This invention relates to a lightweight, deployable turret, such as those utilized for anti-aircraft weapons mounted on the roof of a lightweight, armored vehicle.
It is known in the art to mount various types of turrets or carriages for light weapons on the roof of an armored vehicle. Access to the turret is usually obtained from the interior of the vehicle via a hatch in the vehicle roof.
British Patent 1,294,006 describes a rocket launcher attached to the upper portion of a tracked vehicle. The rocket launcher includes a deformable parallelogram linkage structure and is located such that it completely overhangs from the front of the turret. This known structure does not make provisions for counter-balancing the weight of the weapons during deployment, nor does it provide for the adjustment of the elevational angle of the weapon between a negative angle and a large positive angle.
Most known turrets have the disadvantage of being cumbersome and difficult to operate. Such a cumbersome structure often prevents the use of the weapon at wide variations of elevational angles, which must typically range from -15.degree. to +45.degree.. Such elevational angles require the turret to be displaced from the upper portion of the vehicle in order to provide for the necessary clearances between the weapon and the vehicle.
Such bulkiness of the known turrets quite often constitutes a handicap for the vehicle mobility and, in most cases, prohibits the vehicle from being transported by air, a very serious handicap from an operational standpoint.